Golf-practice apparatus



Sept. 30, 1930. w, B R' E 1,777,034

GOLF PRACTICE APPARATUS Filed Jan. 9, 1928 Patented Sept. 30, 1930 V UNITED STATES THOMAS WILLIAM BYRNE, or nonenns'rnn,.nnssnonusmas1 eonr-rnAorronnnrnnnrps 5 the yardage that would be obtained were the shot to be made upon the golf links.

With these objects in view and such others as may hereinafter appear, the invention consists in the golf practice apparatus here- 23 inafter described and particularly defined in the claims at the end of this specification.

In the drawings illustrating the preferred embodiment of the invention, Figure l'is a side elevation of the improved golf apparatus; Fig. 2 is a plan of the base; and Fig. 3

is a detail to be referred to.

In general in the present golf practice apparatus a golf ball or similar object which is designed to be struck by the club during the execution of the golf shot is suspended by a flexible connection from a nut mounted upon a threaded rod upstanding from a base member whereby during the execution of the shot the golf ball or similar object upon be- 3. ing struck by the club flies around in a circular path with the threaded rod as a center. The nut being caused to rotate upon the threaded rod is caused to traverse the rod vertically and as a result comes to rest at somepoint along the threaded rod at a distance from the base proportionate to the cf fectiveness of the golf shot.

Referring now to the drawings, the apparatus illustrated therein comprises a golf 45' ball mounted upon the end of a pair of flexible steel spring wires- 12. V Provisionjis made for; securing the springWires'I'ZLto a rotatable nut fherein shown as co'mpris 'ing a steel sleeve having a pin 13which;is

yieldably heldyin engagement with the threadsof a threaded rod 20, and which is arranged to be screwed ontol'the threaded shaft or rod upstanc'lin from a heavy base portion 22, as shown shown, and" in order to permit renewal of the steel spring wires, the latter are secured to the nut 15 by a connecting device24- comprising two clamping plates bOItedtoget-her. The spring wires 12' are looped around one of; the-clampingtbolts and clampedby one end portion of the connecting device 24, and the connecting device is secured to the a nut; 15 bya pair of: spring wires 27 wound around the nut and the ends of which are clamped betweenthe second end portionlof the clamping devicein the manner illustrated in 'Fig. 1. The pin 13- is yieldably held; in thread engaging'position by a spring strap BO extended around the sleeve, and an; operating handle is provided topermit thepin to be moved outwardly to; disengage the threads from the threads of: the-threaded rod when it is desired to reset the nut to the bottom of the shaft'after a shot has beenmadei The upper end of the shaft isvprovidedi with' a stop nut for limitirigthe upward movement of the nut. i

' Inorder to-record theeifectiveness of each golfshot in terms of yardage which would be obtained were the same shot to: be made upon the golf} links, the length of the steel spring wires12are so proportioned and the various positions at which the nut comes to resta-fter golf shotsiofl certain strength are so: made as-to enable the face} of the threads upon the threaded" shaft to be marked; by. painted dotsor-otherwise to provide a, record ofgthe; yardage; For example, the, position indicates a drive'of 1 00; ya1;ds, the positiontiQ a driveof l50 yards, the position 53- a drive of 200 yards. In addition in the preferred apparatus the threads upon the threaded shaft are proportioned with rela tion to the length of the spring wires 12 so that each revolution represents additional yardage amounting to 10 yards. The base may be sub-divided from 1 to 10 so that during the use of the apparatus, if the golf ball is positioned so that the steel spring wires 12 are over the numeral 0 upon the base, then upon making a shot the exact yardage can be read down to a single yard.

A rubber bumper comprising a rubber tube is provided in order to protect the club head from engaging the spring wires. In some THOMAS IVILLIAM BYRNE.

instances after continued use the spring-wires r 12 break.

At least two of these spring wires 12 are provided in order that awarning'may l '1 be had of their breaking, because it has been found that one of the Wires 'will break before the 0tl1er,and in the present apparatus when one of the wires breaks both may be readily renewed. In some instances also it is necessary to renew the wires 27.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied in other forms within the scope of the following claims.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed is:

1. A golf practice apparatus comprising a threaded rod, a nut mounted 011 the rod comprising a sleeve and a pin having a projection on one end for engaging the threads of the rod, yieldable means for holding the pin in engagement with such threads, a golfball, and a connection between the golf ball and nut.

2. In a device of the kind described, a threaded rod, an elongated nut mounted thereon, a pair of flexible wires carried by the nut at vertically spaced points, a clamping device clamped upon the free ends of said wires, other wires extending from said clamping device and secured thereby, and a golfball carried by said last Wires at the free ends thereof. V

. 3. In a device of the kind described, a vertically disposed threaded rod, a sleeve mounted on said rod and rotatable and slid-- able thereon, a pin projecting through the wall of the sleeve and engaging the thread of the rod, the outer end of the pin projecting outwardly of the sleeve, a leaf spring having one end fixed on the sleeve and engaging the pin to urge the same inwardly, and a ball carrying arm connected to said sleeve.

4. In a device of the kind described, a vertically disposed threaded rod, a sleeve mounted on said rod and rotatable and slidable thereon, a pin projecting through the wall of the sleeve and engaging the thread of the rod, the outer end of the pin projecting outwardly of the sleeve, a leaf spring'having one 

